FREMONT -- 24 Hour Fitness is launching new stores in Fremont and Hayward as part of a $25 million expansion that will create hundreds of new jobs in the Bay Area this year, the personal health company says.

San Ramon-based 24 Hour Fitness will open a Super-Sport club in Fremont on Saturday, and is under construction with a Super-Sport outlet in Hayward at a former Circuit City store. The deals for the sites were arranged through Terranomics Retail Services, a realty firm.

"These are exciting times for us," said Jim McPhail, chief development officer at 24 Hour Fitness. "We continue to build new clubs, relocate clubs and remodel clubs in the Bay Area."

Each of the company's Super-Sport clubs employs 100 to 150 full-time and part-time workers.

The fitness company opened two Super-Sport clubs in recent months, including a January opening in Walnut Creek and a December opening in Livermore.

24 Hour Fitness also plans to remodel existing outlets at unspecified locations in the South Bay and the Peninsula this year.

These efforts are part of an overall investment during 2013 ranging from $20 million to $30 million, according to McPhail.

The Fremont 24 Hour Fitness site is in a 45,000-square-foot building in the Pacific Commons retail complex.

"It's very exciting to get 24 Hour Fitness," said Christina Briggs, Fremont's city economic development manager. "It's great to get a retail use that provides healthy services for the community."

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In Fremont, the fitness club occupies a property that once was a former college and auto shop location.

The Hayward 24 Hour Fitness is in a former Circuit City building. That Super-Sport club should open by July, McPhail said.

In Walnut Creek, the company opened a fitness center in January on the site of an old batch plant that had been used for highway construction. In Livermore, the 24 Hour fitness opened a store in a one-time Triple A call center. In Pleasanton, the company is operating in a former newspaper plant once occupied by Bay Area Newspaper Group.

"Most of the time we do adaptive reuses of existing spaces," McPhail said.

In addition to the openings in Walnut Creek, Fremont and Pleasanton, the company also intends more store openings in 2014.

While the expansion and renovation plans may seem ambitious in a sometimes wobbly economy, the company believes it makes sense for people to attempt to remain fit, even during sour times.

For one thing, people often feel they need to remain in shape, even if they are out of work. That way they can look and feel their best during a job interview.

McPhail, though, believes more fundamental factors may be in play, whether the economy is feeble or robust.

"Fitness is a choice and on the list of things that are important to people in terms of their lifestyle," McPhail said. "Being fit drives down your health care costs. Besides looking good and staying injury-free, fitness also has to do with how it makes you feel emotionally."